Learning to Play Quidditch
by Quidditch
Summary: A sequel to One Kiss and Three Little Words- but you don't have to read that first. It's just recomended. Hermione needs to learn the rules to Quidditch, and Ron's decided to teach her how to play.


A/N: A sequel to 'One Kiss and Three Little Words' although, I assume it isn't necessary to read that first. I'll bore you at the end, and let you read the story.

Hermione sat among her piles of books, still trying to debate which to do first, her Charms or Transfiguration essay.

# "Charms is first Monday morning, I'll do that," she decided.Finally settled, she pushed aside her other books and began her essay on Zapoot plants. Sitting alone in the library was very peaceful. The common room had been crazy as Fred and George were trying out their latest Wheezes. They'd invented some sort of cloak that allowed a person to bounce as freely as they wished. She hated admitting it, but she'd had fun hitting her head on the ceiling of the Common Room. Hermione shook her head, "Concentrate," she scolded herself. She sat for twenty minutes, the only noise the scratching of her quill. The library was practically deserted. She ignored the rustle of the few other students around her getting up to leave. She quickly glanced at her watch and realized that she should start heading towards the Common Room; the library closed earlier on Saturdays. She sighed and began packing up her stuff.

"Hermione! Did you get lost?" 

"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying not to look as startled as she felt. 

Ron laughed at her befuddled look. "You've been here for almost five hours. C'mon Hermione, it's Saturday." 

"Yes, I know, but I had tons of homework. I couldn't get it done with all the noise the twins were making. I was just trying to get a head start on some of my essays, do some extra work, you know."

"Those Quidditch rules giving you trouble? It's really not that hard."

"Oh yeah, those…" Hermione was trying to hide her blushing cheeks. She 'accidentally' dropped her quill and bent over to retrieve it. 

"Hey!" said Ron, quite suddenly, "I just got a brilliant idea. Just call me a genius. Hurry up, pack up your stuff." He grabbed her arm and began to pull her away as she was still trying to stuff some of her books into her bag.

"Ron! Ron, slow down!" He turned around to face her, exasperated.Ron ignored her.

"Hermione, go drop your stuff off in the tower, I'll wait for you here," he ordered.

Hermione sighed, but grinned inwardly. She loved it when it was just the two of them. He acted, somewhat, different almost. She ran up the stairs to her dormitory, threw her books on her bed, then raced back to Ron. Without saying a word to her, he turned and started to walk away, obviously wanting to be followed.

"Ron! Where are you taking me?" Hermione whined, sick of following him around, although she was having a few private thoughts about how Ron looked from behind. 

"We're going to teach you the rules of Quidditch." He broke into a run once they reached the Entrance Hall, and soon, she was far behind him.

"Ron! Slow down! Your legs are ten times longer than mine, I can't keep up!" But she stopped yelling when she realized where he had led her. 

"C'mon Hermione, grab a broom." Hermione walked out onto the Quidditch field and grabbed the broom. 

Awkwardly, she mounted and pushed up into the air. "Relax, Hermione, you're doing fine," said Ron as he circled around her. Hermione relaxed her tense grip on the broom, realizing her knuckles were white. 

"Ron, how in the world is this going to teach me the rules?"

"Well," he said with a big grin across his face, as if he had a secret, "playing helps you understand it better." 

Hermione just shook her head , but not to vigorously, she was too scared to move much.

"There is no way I'm playing Quidditch against YOU! That's not very fair."

"C'mon," he coaxed, "We'll just play with the Quaffle. No Bludgers or Snitch. Just you, me, and a Quaffle. Just think of it as a learning experience." He zoomed to the ground, and pulled a Quaffle out of a bag. "This is mine from home. It's old and slow, perfect for a beginner."

"I resent that," she said, trying not to let him tease her.

"Why? You ARE a beginner."

"You think I need a SLOW Quaffle? I'll show you!" As Ron released the Quaffle, Hermione raced after it immediately, barely giving time for Ron to get into the air. 

"CHEATER!" But Hermione ignored him and grabbed the Quaffle. She turned, almost falling from the broom, and zoomed to the goal post on the other end. Suddenly, from her left, Ron raced by and grabbed the Quaffle from her.

"Oh come on!" she yelled as she watched him score. "That's gotta be some sort of foul!" 

"Nope!" said Ron, as he did a victory lap. "Come on Hermione. I won't even take it, just try and score off of me." 

She caught the Quaffle he threw to her and concentrated.

Hermione was determined. She hovered for a few seconds, then charged. Threw the Quaffle and…

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! Ha! Take that! From a BEGINNER!" Hermione whooped and screamed. 

# "I let you get it by," Ron demanded, trying not to seem to shocked. 

Hermione just laughed. 

"I DID! Make you feel better!"

# Hermione stopped in midair, Quaffle in hand, and turned to face Ron. She was trying to look tough.She threw the Quaffle towards Ron and hit him squarely in the stomach. He doubled over, coughing.

"I feel better now!"

"Now, THAT was definitely a foul!" Ron yelled, coming after her. Hermione shrieked and tried to race away, but between her awkwardness on a broom and Ron's skill there was no way she'd ever get away. "Ha! I've got you cornered!" Hermione turned around. Indeed, he did.

"All right, all right, you win," she said carefully flying closer to him. But suddenly she grabbed the tip of his broom and swung him to face the opposite direction. She flew away, cackling madly. "I take that back! I win!" she hollered, not watching where she was flying.

"Hermione, idiot! Turn around!" She whipped her head, just in time to see the end of her broom hit a goal post. She tried to pull up, but sort of bounced off the goalpost. Through his chuckles, Ron yelled to her, "Hermione, you ok?"

"Fine," she said, embarrassed. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Ron laughed and headed for the ground. Seeing Ron, Hermione started to descend. When she was about five feet above the ground, she stopped and just hovered. 

"Uh, Ron?" she asked, frightened.

"Yeah?" he said, looking up from trying to put the Quaffle in his bag.

"Uh, how do you…you know, land?" It took a few minutes for Ron to stop laughing. "This isn't funny! I'm stuck up here!"

"You are not! Just, ugh!" He grabbed his broom and flew up. "Hermione! This is pretty basic. You should've studied more in the first year."

"Shut up, and help me down."

"What if I don't?"At this, Hermione glared at Ron, not saying a word."Fine, fine," He showed her how to land, step-by-step. When they were both on the ground, her hair was tousled and she looked extremely upset. 

"Doing all right Hermione?"

"I'll be ok." She began to laugh. "I still know NONE of the rules. But it's ok, I had fun."

"Yeah, me too," said Ron, running his hand through his hair. "Although, my stomach will be sore tomorrow." They both laughed, then stood in an awkward silence. 

"It's getting dark," Hermione noticed.

"Yeah, we should…"

"Go back to the Common Room." They looked at each other and smiled. Hermione then dropped her eyes. "Why aren't either of us going?" she whispered. 

"I dunno," said Ron, just as quietly. They then stood, for what seemed for an eternity, but may have only been two minutes. Ron stepped to Hermione. "Ready?" it was only a whisper.

"No," she said, sounding very tired. She wasn't sure what question she was answering. Ron reached up, and pushed her hair behind her ear. She turned her eyes and looked at him. He stepped closer again. "Ron…"

"Hermione…" Hermione felt her heart leap. She knew that this was what she wanted. She knew she'd been picturing this moment forever. She'd dreamt about it, fretted about it, even shed a few tears. But a thought struck her. Did she dare say anything? 

Ron closed his eyes, put a hand on her cheek and leaned towards her. With a sharp intake of breath, Hermione stepped back. "Ron, how's Hannah?" Ron froze, then dropped his head. Hermione felt on the verge of tears. This had been everything she'd been hoping for, everything she could want. But she couldn't do that to anyone, not even her worst enemy.

"Geez, Hermione," Ron said, looking at his hands.

"I'm…I'm sorry." She was afraid to say more, for fear of the tears that had built up. "Let's just…let's…go." He started right off, flinging the bag over his shoulder. Hermione took a deep breath, calming herself. It didn't help, silent tears fell down her face.

Ron stopped suddenly up ahead. He turned to face her, and saw her tears. "Bloody hell." He dropped the bag and walked straight to her. He took her face in his hands, looked into her eyes, and kissed her. Hermione heard ringing in her ears and felt her heart dance in her chest. She laced her hands around Ron's neck and kissed him back. The world revolved around them and time seemed to stop.

They both pulled apart, and Hermione slowly dropped her hands. She looked down at her feet, tracing designs in the dirt. 

"Hermione, you, um, you all right?" Ron sounded worried. Hermione looked up at him, her eyes full with tears. He had no idea that he had just fulfilled all her dreams. "Why are you crying?" 

Hermione laughed through her tears, and just shook her head. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him again. "I'm fine, Ron." She smiled, and he grabbed her hand.

"I'm glad. I've been waiting for so long just to…just to be able to touch you," he reached up and stroked her cheek. 

Hermione couldn't help laughing. Ron pulled away, wounded. 

"Oh no, not you just, Ron," she paused not knowing what to say.Should she tell him she'd been living these past few years praying that someday he might love her?That there had never been a moment when the sight of him hadn't sent her heart careening against her rib cage?She hadn't known a night when the sight of him wasn't in her dreams?She couldn't remember a morning when he hadn't fluttered behind her waking eyelids?Realizing that it was Ron she was talking to, she decided against it."Ron…Me too."

He smiled at her and kissed her. When they separated, Hermione's eyes stayed shut and she was smiling.

"I could really get used to this." Ron smiled, and in response, their lips met again.

"Come on, it's really getting dark, let's go back to the castle." 

"Yes," Hermione reached down and grabbed Ron's hand. They walked off, absorbed in each other's presence and happy to have each been able to make the other's hopes and dreams come true. 

A/N2: I hope you liked it. I think it's _really_ fluffy romance, but I love it. I had fun writing it on a SNOW DAY! (I love snow!) I'm not planning on writing a sequel to this, but you never now what might happen on some day that I'm very, very bored. That's were this came from!!!

Disclaimer: All JKR's and I stole the idea/basis of Hermione's little monologue from 'The Princess Bride'. I know- it sounds awesome. If only I could write that well. Well, it's KINDA mine. It's just based on it. Ok, I'm done. 


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